GIVENCHY'S MODERN CLASSICS

Hubert de Givenchy takes the traditionalist approach to fashion. His couture collection, introduced on the last day of the fall and winter showings, enhanced the case for classicism. Though he broke no new ground and certainly showed no wild clothes, his collection had a good sense of freshness and a youthful vigor. The clothes were close to the body and, with a few exceptions for evening, never overelaborate. They had a modern, contemporary look, appropriate to cosmopolitan centers anywhere in the world.

He provided some reinforcement for specific trends that surfaced at other couture houses. Hoods appeared on everything from furs to evening dresses. Nipped waistline suits with peplums echoed a line developed in different ways by Marc Bohan for Christian Dior and Emanuel Ungaro. Short jacket suits were also seen at Yves Saint Laurent. This sort of thing does not imply copying, but it gives a coherence to clothes for a specific season.

The Thursday-morning show opened with one of the waist-length jacket suits in black leather with pants. The jacket had a black fox collar and cuffs and sheltered a yellow jersey blouse. It struck a casual note, which is not exactly common in couture shows, but was elegant as well.

Similar short jackets topped wool jersey dresses for day and were embellished with jewels for evening.

A different but snappy suit shape was more curvy, with a fitted waistline and a jutting peplum. In such fabrics as white wool ottoman or gray worsted with a velvet collar, it had crisp outlines and a neat look.

The jersey dresses were a keynote, often appearing in two-color designs - black for the bodice, for example, and red for the skirt. Sometimes the fabric was lightly gathered to one hip or at either side of a center panel in front. Most of the dresses were fitted to the body, as opposed to the chemise that has dominated in recent seasons. This slender, graceful shape emphasized the younger look.

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There were wonderful big, rounded wool coats, too, in the Balenciaga tradition -Cristobal Balenciaga was Givenchy's mentor - and like many other designers, Givenchy showed quite a few fur coats. They tended to be lavishly full, as in the brown fox cape with a hood drawn over a turban, and a silver fox coat with a rounded cape in back. They drew the expected rounds of applause from an audience geared to expect luxury.

After the obligatory round of short, patterned silk or velvet cocktail dresses, Givenchy moved into his famed evening dresses. Many women feel they cannot leave home for a grand ball without one. He had a few surprises in this area as well -for example, elaborately jeweled sweaters pulled over long pink or gold jersey skirts. There was a long mauve lace sheath and a hooded pink jersey dress with a raspberry skirt. For women who expect beads and glitter from the couture, the designer showed metallic brocade jackets, velvet dresses with jeweled bodices and dresses with elaborate jeweled appliques, far more luxurious than prints. He dressed his bride in pink damask with a bustle - less traditional than white, but not at all disturbing.

The last designer to show was Per Spook, who set up a white tent in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art on the Avenue du President-Wilson as a fitting backdrop for his unique casual clothes. They are based on separates, such as slouchy pants, oversize battle jackets and easy, long skirts.

The clothes are not at all sultry or sophisticated. They look relaxed and are meant to be layered, depending on the weather, and combined in different ways, depending on the occasion. This is an American concept, and it is interesting to see it handled by a Norwegian designer working in Paris. Among the best pieces were thickly knit mohair sweater jackets with colors shading from pale at the shoulders to dark at the hips, and gored princess dresses shown for day and night.

The show provided an offbeat ending to the couture openings and expanded the diversity of approaches to fashion shown here this season.

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A version of this article appears in print on July 27, 1985, on Page 1001048 of the National edition with the headline: GIVENCHY'S MODERN CLASSICS. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe